A Hideous Might
by Bad Luck Bree
Summary: A short one-shot written in response to a prompt by someone about an angst-charged Zelgan kiss. Involves blood and death and non-happy ending. And the word 'might' may not mean what you first think it does. Absolutely no reason to write this...I just wanted to.


To think that someone of such vast strength had even vaster reserves of the same strength was terrifying indeed – but then forcing him to draw from these reserves was an accomplishment in itself. But then Ganondorf had overestimated his own ability to contain the Triforce shard. The Triforce of Power was limitless, but his human frame was not.

His battle with the Hero had been bitter, long, a fight to be remembered in ages to come – along with all the other battles between the two of them, throughout bygone ages, which they had grown up hearing. And just like in all of those tales, Ganondorf turned out the loser.

Once again he was vanquished, his strength all but spent, his power almost gone, his life run out. He knelt, his weight supported on one arm as he nursed a deep wound in his side, one of many brutal injuries, and one from which he could never hope to recover. The green-clad warrior was striding toward him, weapon raised in preparation for a final blow. The Dark Lord knew he was dying, knew that the Hero would kill him with that cursed sword of the goddess. He knew this was how the tale was supposed to end, how it was meant to be from the beginning. But he still felt the bitterness of his disappointment strike him full-force.

Then he saw her, a distance behind the Hero, holding that horrible golden bow, her arrows spent. His vision seemed to shrink until it contained only her, blotting out all else. Something broke within him, something he could not identify. But it gave him a sudden burst of strength.

He surged up from his crouched position, lunging for the Hylian warrior, swinging out with his halberd. Taken by surprise, Link was unable to prepare a proper defense, and the weapon caught him fully on the side of his face, slicing deep down his jaw and carrying down across his chest. It was only the tip of the weapon, and though it was not a deadly wound, it sent Link to the ground, temporarily blinded from pain, his jawbone nearly severed.

Zelda had given out a cry when she saw him fall, and at first started towards him, but halted when she saw Ganondorf heading for her. She fell back, seeking another arrow but finding her quiver empty. Flinging the useless bow away, she drew forth a long-bladed dagger, holding it blade-down and taking up a fighting stance. But Ganondorf kept coming.

He seemed to expand, to fill the whole of her vision, his face a nightmarish mask of hatred, rage, deadly ambition frustrated…but more than that (and most surprising of all) was the overpowering despair that filled every harsh line of his face. Zelda at first thought it was the force of his hatred that struck her motionless, but now knew it was the sense of total, ultimate loss that arrested her movement. She was struck to stone by it, unable to look away.

She was not an incompetent fighter, not at all. But it was pitiful to see her try to fend off the King of Shadows with nothing more than a dagger, all her mystical powers drained from the battle. She slashed horizontally at his chest, but he blocked the blow and then knocked the blade from her hand without any trace of effort. Zelda fell back, her breath leaving her, defenseless and faced with all his wrath. The intensity of the rage in his face was enough to strike her dead.

One monstrous arm swung forward, and he seized her by the back of the neck, his hand large enough to fully encircle her throat, the crushing tendons somehow restrained from smashing her skull like a deku nut.

"Look at me, princess...I want you to see me in this moment."

His voice was almost inhuman with its level of pain and grating anger, and it shook her very marrow. She wanted above all things not to look at him, but felt her eyes drawn magnetically upwards to meet the flaming yellow orbs of his own.

What she saw was forever branded in her memory, though it was only for a moment. Because as soon as she raised her head, the grip on the back of her neck pulled her head irresistibly forward. _I'm going to die_ she thought simply, no longer afraid of the idea after years of resigning herself to it. He was going to bite open her throat with those strange fangs of his, he was going to eat her heart before he fell to Link's courage.

But his assault was entirely different. He bent his neck, the closest he had ever come to bowing his head to her, and roughly pressed his mouth to hers.

It was a biting, bitter taste that filled her mouth and burned her tongue, like vinegar mixed with sand and blood, all the dreams, the ambition, the hopes and the duty to one's people which drove the Demon King and the Princess of Destiny both with equal ferocity – it was like the world had swallowed all these things up, mangled them in its unforgiving jaws, and then spat them back out to mock the loser.

She did not have time to react, for although the touch of his savage mouth on hers had breathed in a choking knot of emotions and passions, it was the briefest of moments. But that sensation of burning, of revulsion mixed with sudden realization and, perhaps, reluctant regret, stayed with her to the end of her days.

Ganondorf's grip on Zelda's nape spasmed, and his entire body clenched like a fist, a barely stifled groan of agony hissing through his teeth. His weight suddenly slumped against Zelda, and he slid roughly to one knee as the princess stared in dumb fascination at the sword-tip, heated with the Demon King's vitals, that crunched through his hauberk like some hideous growth from his chest, stemming from his heart. Ganondorf himself, despite the agony of the deathblow and the knowledge that Link now stood behind him, his weight against the sword hilt, had not taken his eyes from Zelda's face, willing her to meet his gaze again. When he spoke, his voice was muffled with a sudden flow of blood.

"Look at me…"

Why she complied she did not know. Perhaps because she knew that it was the only thing she could do for him.

Defiant to the last. Such a proud face, which might have been considered handsome if it were not marred with that cruel darkness of ever-thirsting ambition, that insurmountable hatred against the rest of the world.

A sickening crunching hiss was followed by a sobbing groan as Link withdrew the sword from his foe's body and Ganondorf fell forward against Zelda, his shoulder striking her torso, though she did not fall. She unconsciously caught his shoulders with her hands, seeking to steady him. His head drooped, blood dribbling from his mouth to stain Zelda's garments, accompanied by a final weak whisper, "When will we learn to be wrong?" Then, he died.

Zelda couldn't support the corpse as it went totally limp upon death, and it slid from her grasp, landing heavily on the ground beside her. Link was standing with sword point poised for a final blow if it was needed, his face covered in blood from his wound. But Ganondorf was dead. The Hero's attention turned to his princess.

"Princess, did he hurt you?" He took a step towards her, offering her his hand, heedless of his own harsh injuries. Zelda automatically reached forward and placed her hand in his, looking down at Ganondorf's corpse. His eyes were still open in death, but the light had rapidly fled from those strange golden depths.

_Such a pity…he could have been great…_

"I'm not hurt, Link. It's over. It's done." She smiled vaguely at him, unable to banish the bitter sting of regret from her heart.


End file.
